Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone to the November 20th, 2025 Stanislaus County Planning Commission meeting. I'd like to start off with a few reminders. Please silence your cell phones. During the public hearings, we're happy to accept any comments on the projects, but we ask that you avoid repetition. During a long hearing, it's okay just to say that you agree with the previous speakers rather than to repeat what's exactly been said. Let the record reflect that the Commissioners Callas, Marings, Zabala, and Willerup are absent this evening. May we have a roll call, please?

Commissioner Brachetto? Here. Commissioner Campo? Here. Commissioner Huff?

Here.

Commissioner Moran?

Here.

Commissioner Zipzer?

Here.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The Citizens Forum is a time for the public to speak on issues that are not on tonight's agenda. However, the Commission cannot take action on these items. Is there anyone that would like to speak on any issues that are not on tonight's agenda? All right, seeing none, is there a motion to accept the minutes from November 6th, 2025? So moved. Second.

That was Campo and Perchetta. Perchetta.

All right, all in favor? Aye. Okay. All right, Director Freitas, do we have any correspondence?

We have none this evening.

All right, thank you. Is there any conflict of interest that needs to be declared by any of our commissioners? All right, seeing none. All right, moving on to non-consent items. Rezone and parcel map application number PLN 2023-0099-PowerPlay. We have a report, please.

Yes. So good evening, Chair Murad, commissioners, members of the public, Jeremy Ballard, and I'm senior planner here to present the rezone and parcel map application for PowerPlay. I'll just hold for a second. Let me get the presentation on the screen here. Sometimes it takes a few seconds.

It was working earlier.

All right. Okay.

Can we just take like a five-minute break to see if we can get the system up and running? If not, we may just go old school and utilize paper, but it's up to the chair.

How long do you need?

If we could just take a five-minute break to see if we can get it up.

Okay, we'll be back 20 after. Would that be enough time? Oh, okay. When you're ready, just let us know. We'll go back on the record. to the package?

We've got some copies, and we will provide them to them. As we're going through the staff presentation, the information is either contained within the staff report itself and, more specifically, Exhibit B, which has the maps and the site plans. So if the Planning Commission wants to reference those, those are what are going to be spoken to.

Thank you so much. And I just want to make sure we're back on the record that I think it's 16 or 17 after that we're back on the record. And can we please proceed with our staff report? Thank you.

Certainly. So again, Jeremy Ballard, Senior Planner. I will be presenting the Regional Parcel Map Application for Power Play. This is a request to rezone a parcel from plan development 25 to a new plan development to include a 60,834 square foot indoor roller hockey facility as a permitted use along with the uses allowed currently under plan development 25. The project also includes to request to divide the entirety of the site into eight parcels. The development plan also includes construction of seven light industrial commercial buildings totaling 62,000 square feet which would be consistent with the allowable uses under the current planned development zoning district. So in exhibit B1 before you is a map of the area. The project site is located at 711 Bangs Avenue and 455 North Star Way between Galaxy Way and Bangs Avenue in the city of Modesto's sphere of influence. On Exhibit B2, you'll see the project site as a general plan designation of plan development. And then on Exhibit B3, it has a zoning designation of plan development 25, which allows for light, industrial, and other low-traffic generating commercial uses. So in exhibit B4, you'll see that the project site is, excuse me, B3, the project site is surrounded by light industrial warehouses and commercial uses to the northeast and south. Orchards, the Union Pacific Rail Line, industrial development, and a church are to the west. Also to note, the area to the west of the project site, which is bordered by Pellendale Avenue, Telly Road, and Kiernan Avenue, is currently being annexed into the city of Modesto. So on exhibit B4, you'll see the project site itself, which fronts onto Bangs Avenue and North Star Way. It was previously developed with an aluminum extrusion, anodizing, and painting facility beginning in the 1970s until it was closed in the early 2000s. In 2009, the United States EPA and the California Department of Toxic Control Substances conducted a cleanup of the site to abate toxic liquids left after the aluminum facility's closure. The cleanup was completed in 2015. While the building is no longer present on the site, a parking and drainage easement covered a portion of the site, but these will be abandoned as part of the site development. So starting, I believe, on exhibit B5 is the site plan. So if the project is approved, the resulting eight parcels will range in size from 0.5 acres to 3.84 acres in size, and each be developed a single commercial building each. With the exception of the roller hockey facility, the buildings will range in size from 7,000 square feet to 12,000 square feet and be utilized for light industrial or low traffic generated commercial uses such as office space or warehouse space. The roller hockey facility, the parcel that will house the roller hockey facility will be approximately 3.84 acres. The hours of operation for the light industrial commercial buildings are anticipated to be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The site will also include a 364-lot paved parking lot that will include security lighting and four shared driveways onto Bangs Avenue. Easements for reciprocal access, parking, utility and drainage will be included between each parcel. Storm drainage will be handled via a horizontal drainage system. The site will be served by the City of Modesto for water and sewer services. An existing water line along Bangs Avenue will be extended northward up North Star Way to service the resulting developed site. An extension of a sewer line by the City of Modesto will bring a new sewer line west along Bangs Avenue with the applicant extending it along North Star Way for use. If the sewer line extension is not completed at the time of development of the site, septic facilities will be utilized in the interim. Landscaping consisting of a variety of shade and accent trees, shrubs, and low-lying plants will be installed along the perimeter of the site as well within the interior of the parking lot. Let me actually find which exhibit I will be talking about next. On B8, you'll see the interior of the site. The roller hockey facility would consist of two separate rinks with locker rooms, private party rooms, restrooms, a pro shop, offices, kitchen, dining area, rental kiosk, and equipment storage. The rinks will be open to the public but also include youth and adult league play. Proposed hours of operation for the rink will be 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. These will be offsetting hours with the commercial industrial buildings proposed. The rink anticipates up to 175 daily customers with up to 60 anticipated any one time for the league use. And there'll be anticipated 100 people on site for public skate periods. There'll be eight employees on a maximum shift with only one shift expected per day.

B14 is your elevations.

Thank you. So these are the elevations of the roller hockey facility itself looking inward from the parking lot. So within the issue section of the staff report, as part of the environmental review referral, a comment letter was received from Caltrans requesting that a traffic impact analysis be completed for the project based on the potential trips from the entirety of the project and what type of potential impacts could be a result of the project for State Route 108 and 219. Subsequent to the letter, planning and Caltrans staff had discussions about the project site's current allowable uses under Plan Development 25, as well as the daily customers anticipated for the roller hockey facility, and then the offsetting hours between that facility and the additional light and industrial low traffic generating commercial uses. Ultimately, a successive letter was received from Caltrans rescinding their previous request for a traffic impact analysis. No other issues were identified during the review of the project and development standards associated with the development of the site have been placed on the project. As discussed in the general plan and zoning consistency sections of the staff report, the project was evaluated for consistency with the general plan including the land use elements plan development designation and the sphere of influence policies with the county. The analysis found that the project site's proposed plan development zoning would be consistent with the current general plan designation of plan development and that based on the city of Modesto's written support and application of their development standards, the sphere of influence policies will be met as well. Development standards consistent with the city standards for landscaping, parking, lighting, frontage improvements, utility connections, and signage will be applied to this project. These standards are further incorporated in the development standards in exhibit C of your staff report. Additionally, while located in the sphere of influence of the city of Modesto, the site is also located within the Salida Fire Protection District service area. Fire protection standards from both the city of Modesto and Salida Fire will be required to be met by the project. Additionally, the site will be required to pay Salida Fire impact fees and annex into the Salida Fire Community Facilities District. Ultimately, staff's review of the project found it to be consistent with both the county's general plan and the zoning ordinance. As discussed in the environmental review section of the staff report, pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, an initial study was circulated to interested parties and responsible agencies for review and comment. As the project sites currently allowable light industrial and low traffic generated commercial uses will be retained within the new planned development zoning district, the environmental review analyzed the impacts of the roller hockey facility Based on the analysis, a negative declaration has been prepared for approval, and then development standards reflecting referral responses have been placed on the project. So to conclude, as you'll find in Exhibit A, staff recommends the Planning Commission recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve the project as proposed in your staff report, and that will include findings relative to the environmental review, the proposed rezone, the parcel map, project improvements, and then project approval. And that concludes my presentation, and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you for that report. Are there any questions or comments from the Commission?

How many bleacher seats are there in this thing?

You know, I don't know if it's necessarily specified, but the project applicants, architect and designers here need to probably explain a little bit more about what they determined for that.

Fair enough.

Thank you. All right. Any other questions to staff or we'll come back to it? We will now open the public hearing. Is there anyone to speak in opposition of this project? Seeing none, is there anyone to speak in favor? Please come up to the podium and introduce yourself.

Good evening. Thank you.

Barrett LaPomi, Rennick Architects, applicant on behalf of the property owner. Thank you very much to the county planning staff as well as the city and everyone who's been a part of this review. So I'm here to answer any questions. I know I can probably speak to the bleacher one. The exact number, but we have on each side, so there's two rinks of the bleachers, so you would have about 50 on each side that could snugly fit in there if we packed them out.

Absolutely. Do you anticipate for expansion in the future, should the facility grow in popularity so that more people can attend, or would that be its capacity?

This would be, yeah, the capacity, and also just based on how we have it situated on the site, we wouldn't expand further, but yeah.

Are you planning on building all the rest of the buildings on the site at the same time, or is this a phased-in approach?

The rink would be the first one, and then the other ones would be phased in afterward.

Five years, 10 or something like that?

I would think so, yeah, assuming that everything drives forward, yeah.

Is there an estimated time of opening for business? This is the kind of a business that you need people to come and you need leagues and you need teams. Can you tell us a little bit about what you anticipate, what that will look like in the community?

As far as the leagues and the teams, I don't know if Mike... We have Mike here as well. He might be more suited to answer that question on behalf. So if you want to come up and speak to that.

Good evening, Mike Rossi, thank you for considering our project. You know, our management team, we have decades of experience in sports leagues. You know, Daniel Costa has run a facility just like this in Ripon to great success. My background was in professional sports for 20 plus years. So we feel we have with our connections, players, both youth and adults to play in this. Barrett actually is a hockey player. He travels out of the county to play on a regular basis. So there is a demand and we're excited to get it off the ground.

So build it and they will come? Correct. Is that how it works here? Yes. Okay. All right. Is there any other questions from the commission?

Just a real quick one. Are you going to have roller derby?

You know, we'll do roller skating for sure. I think we've done roller derby in the past, but we're not ready to commit to that just yet.

So just to follow up with my fellow commissioner, is there an estimated time of, I know the answer was about expansion to full capacity, but what is the estimated opening for business?

For the rank, you know, I'll kind of defer to the developers on that, but I think about 12 months. Does that sound?

Yeah. Yeah.

Hey, guys. I can speak to the development and construction side of things. Thank you guys for having us. Please introduce yourself. And we're also excited to have this project. On the construction side it's probably about a nine month build and so with the excellent staff over at the county we're hoping we can process the construction doorings in about three months and you know provided we get the ticket approval from you guys you know tonight and then it goes to in front of the supervisors next month We plan to submit the first round of construction drawings by the end of the year, you know, to solidify the existing code cycle. And then, you know, we probably have two rounds of plan check before we can put shovels in the ground.

All right, and can you please introduce yourself, sir, for us?

Sorry, my name is Nick Webstone from RubikBuild. All right. Yep.

Any questions from the Commission?

Would there be like an amplified sound system in this arena?

Yes. Okay. There are electronic scoreboards and sound systems and it's very nicely equipped.

The question I'm going to get to is do you think this would be used as a concert venue also or is it strictly going to be arena kind of?

I mean, that's probably a question that might, you know, that answer may evolve as things progress once it's opened and things like that. But there's been conversations talking about, you know, is there an opportunity for indoor soccer and is there opportunity for pickleball leagues and is there opportunity for some other things? So I think that, you know, all things are on the table, but the immediate focus is for the hockey.

Just for the record, the development standards and development schedule are relative to the indoor hockey facility, so anything additional would probably have to come back through for land use entitlements. At least concert-wise or anything like that.

One last question. Did you also work on the Ripon facility, and what has been the challenges that have been introduced?

I did not work on the Ripon facility. Maybe Mike or Barrett can speak to that, but...

So, yeah, we... I was the architect on the Ripon facility that was previously built there so I think probably from the ownership side they've learned a lot in the management of it and also through that have built a community of players in the area and a lot of people maybe don't think about roller hockey but there's a lot the closest place we've got to drive is Sonora right now if we want to play so there's a lot of people in the area that are looking for this and have been wanting this since that ring closed. So I think just from the management and the time that they've run that and the experience they've had going to other rings over all the years, the decades, I've learned a lot through that. People in the industry, so they're pretty well poised and that's why This facility too is much bigger. The one in Ripon I think was probably around 20,000 square feet or so, a single rink, pretty small. So now with the two rinks and the way they're able to manage it and grow. So yeah, it should be great. It should be really exciting for the community, bring a lot of people here and for the kids too.

Yeah, it sounds pretty exciting. Thank you for that explanation. Any other questions or comments for our architect?

I just want to say how exciting this is. I think that for our community, most of us have to drive out of town for certain sports events. So I'm excited for you. I wish all the best. I hope that it comes to fruition. And I'm sure the community will embrace this. So I'm ready to give you my support.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

Madam Co-Chair, was that a motion? Or we'll wait until we actually bring it back to the Commission. Thank you so much. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of this project? Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the Commission for further discussion and possible motion.

I've never done a motion, so I'm going to go ahead, okay? I make a motion that we approve parcel map application for PLN 2023-0099 power play based on the staff report and making all the findings in schedule and exhibit A. I will second that motion.

Can we have a roll call, please?

Commissioner Burketto?

Aye.

Commissioner Campo? Aye. Commissioner Huff? Aye. Commissioner Moran?

Aye.

Commissioner Lipser?

All right. So moved. Do we have a report from our Planning Director?

Yes. Since the Planning Commission last met, the Board did not meet on November 11th, but they did meet this last Tuesday. And at that meeting, they conducted the public hearing and approved the Planning Commission's recommendation of approval of the Ordinance Amendment application for truck parking. That is, they approved the first part of two truck parking actions. This one addressed truck parking in the agricultural area of the county. They set the public hearing for December 16th to consider the Planning Commission's recommendation and approval of what is the second part of truck parking, which is going to deal with the large-scale trucking operations, the general plan amendment portion of it. That will go December 16th. The Board also set the public hearing for December 16th to consider the Planning Commission's recommendation for the item that you just considered this evening. and they canceled the public hearing to consider an appeal of the Planning Commission's denial for the use permit application for West Main Compost. If you recall, it had been continued twice. It was set for hearing this last Tuesday. The appellant who was the applicant asked that the application be withdrawn, and so that application has now been withdrawn. On the horizon for this planning commission, we do not have any items scheduled for December, so this very well could be the last meeting for this year. We want to recognize that there are three planning commission members who are terming out on December 31st. One, Commissioner Huff, does have an opportunity to stay for one more term, but Commissioner Zipser and Commissioner Maring, this will be their final of their second terms. Both of them were appointed in January of 2018 and then reappointed in December of 2021. this evening. Staff would like to recognize Commissioner Zipser for all of the wonderful work that he has done on this planning commission. I had the pleasure of working with Commissioner Zipser before he came on to The Planning Commission, in his capacity with the Farm Bureau and working with the county's Ag Advisory Board, he was in the thick of a lot of land use issues, dealing with ag element updates that resulted in farmland mitigation, ag buffers. He got to help us with round one of the truck parking and with outdoor events in the A2. And since he's been on the Planning Commission, he was part of the Gros Lanning Industrial Business Park. and round two of the truck parking. So he has been very instrumental in a lot of land use issues within the county and I very much appreciated having him there to help staff and on this commission and we are gonna miss you and we have a plaque that we would like to give you this evening.

Congratulations. It truly is an honor to serve along your side. Absolutely. Please do.

Angela, thank you for those kind words. And when you went through my resume, I forgot a lot of those things. But, yeah, this has been a pleasure to serve on this commission. I love this community, been a part of it my whole life. I'm a fourth-generation farmer here in Stanislaus County, and I was just always happy to serve and will continue to serve as long as you need me around. But yeah, Angela and I have a long history and a lot of land use issues throughout the years. I remember the Sierra Grain Mill and how controversial that was. It's funny because all the controversial projects that were brought before um this commission long before me long even and then since then all the controversial projects became very very important to the community and i think commissions before us and before me and long long before made some good decisions to grow the county and i think in a very very positive way so it's been a great pleasure I can't tell you every time that somebody comes with a proposed project, talks about what a great staff you have, Angela. And I have to concur. Those accolades are echoed throughout the community. So good job. Thank you for all that your service to this county and everyone else. Jeremy, Kristen, thank you. You guys have done an outstanding job. Uh, continue the good work and, uh, the County will always thrive. Thank you.

All right.

And depending on the appointment date for the replacements, um, as commissioner Zipster kind of alluded to, we may still see commissioner Zipster and commissioner Maureen here in January, depending on when the appointments happen, but. Just we wanted to take the opportunity tonight since it may be the last night. And before all the commissioners leave once the meeting is closed, if we could just have an opportunity for a group photo with all the commissioners, that would be wonderful.

Absolutely. And in closing, I would also like to thank you for your commitment and dedication with all that you do. So it's been an honor to serve with you. And today's also my last day as the chair. So I will look forward to doing what it is that we're asked to do to serve. So thank you to all of you. We are adjourned.